For Immediate Release

Ottawa, February 21 , 2018 – The Trudeau government has made progress in its efforts to reverse the impacts of muzzling under the previous government, says a new survey report released by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). But, says the union that represents over 16,000 federal scientists, engineers and researchers, much more work needs to be done.

The report, titled Defrosting Public Science, updates the findings of a 2013 survey report titled The Big Chill, which found 9 out of 10 respondents (90%) did not feel they could speak freely to the media about the work they do. The latest survey, conducted by Environics Research a little over a year and a half into the Trudeau government’s mandate, found that that number had dropped to 5 out of 10 (53%).

“While that’s progress,” said PIPSC President Daviau, “it’s unacceptable that half of federal scientists still feel they can’t speak freely – even after negotiating new provisions that protect their right to speak freely about their work and science.”

Among the survey’s other findings were:

• 20% of respondents said they had been prevented from answering a question from the media or public, compared to 37% in 2013,
• 40% still believe Canada’s ability to develop policy, law and programs based on scientific evidence has been compromised by political interference, compared to 71% in 2013, and
• 89% believe whistle-blowing laws should be strengthened, a percentage virtually unchanged from 2013.

“What these survey results show is that the process of removing the ‘chill’ imposed on federal scientists under the last government will take longer and require more deliberate efforts on the part of both the government and the public service to succeed,” added Daviau. “We believe that should include efforts to strengthen whistle-blowing laws so that federal scientists don’t have to risk sacrificing their careers in order to warn about concerns in the public interest.”

“Given everything we see happening to federal science in the United States,” she added, “it’s more important than ever that Canada set – and enforce – the right example for government science.”

The report recommends the government take several steps to improve efforts to unmuzzle scientists, including:

• Promote scientists’ right to speak within science-based departments and agencies (SBDAs),
• Continue to prioritize development and implementation of new scientific integrity policies within SBDAs, and
• Enhance whistle-blowing protections for federal scientists.

Invitations to participate in the online survey, hosted by Environics Research, were sent to 16,377 federal scientists, engineers and researchers engaged in scientific work in over 40 federal departments and agencies. Of these 3,025 (18.5%) responded between May 29 and June 27, 2017. The survey is considered accurate [+ or – 1.8%,] 19 times out of 20. Read the full report here.

Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc).

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For further information:

Johanne Fillion

613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell)
jfillion@pipsc.ca

OTTAWA, Feb. 16, 2018 - As the second anniversary of the launch of the Phoenix pay system approaches, 17 unions representing over 225,000 federal public service workers have sent a joint letter of demands to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The unions are asking the Prime Minister to deliver a plan to work with federal government employees to rebuild a payroll system that will pay them accurately and on time – every time.

In the shorter term, the unions are calling for urgent action to mitigate the adverse consequences of Phoenix, such as granting an exemption for employees in receipt of overpayments from repaying the gross amount, which is more than what they have received. They also call on the federal government to provide damages to make workers whole for the many hardships Phoenix has caused them, including untold stress, and the time spent dealing with their pay problems.

"In the lead up to and launch of Phoenix, the government ignored its employees and the unions that represent them," said Public Service Alliance of Canada National President Robyn Benson. "The Prime Minister must learn from this mistake and act urgently on our requests to ease the hardship of our members caught in this nightmare."

"Our members deserve a federal payroll system that works," said Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada President Debi Daviau. "That will only happen when the government acknowledges it needs to nix Phoenix and begins working with our members on a system that isn't programmed to fail."

"Throughout this saga, public servants have been steadfast; they keep showing up to work despite not getting paid correctly and continue to deliver world class services to Canadians," said Canadian Association of Professional Employees President Greg Phillips. "Likewise, they expect their leaders to show up with the same level of determination and commitment – to treat this issue with the urgency and seriousness it deserves."

On February 14, Benson and Daviau met with the Ministerial working group on Phoenix to reiterate the concerns raised in this letter. A copy of the letter to the Prime Minister is attached.

For further information: PSAC Media contact: Jonathan Choquette, Communications Officer / Agent de communications, (819) 773-2511, (613) 560-4317, choquej@psac-afpc.com; CAPE Media contact: Ben René, Communications Officer / Agent de communications, 613-406-5962, brene@acep-cape.ca; PIPSC Media contact: Johanne Fillion, Communications Officer / Agente des communications, 613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell), jfillion@pipsc.ca

View the letter in PDF

This link will take you to an external website. Please note some employers may restrict access to external websites.

For Immediate Release

Ottawa, November 20, 2017 – The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) has concluded its 98^th annual general meeting by calling on the federal government to set up specialized teams to investigate the 3,300 Canadian names reportedly involved in the Paradise Papers.

“The Paradise Papers have once again exposed how many wealthy Canadians are able to use offshore tax havens to avoid paying tax and leave middle-class Canadians to shoulder the burden of funding vital public programs,” said PIPSC President Debi Daviau.

“We need to confront this issue immediately while continuing to meet our ongoing responsibilities,” added Doug Mason, President of the AFS Group, which represents Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) auditors. “The Liberal government has made sizable investments in recent budgets. But those investments need to be measured against recent cuts. The CRA’s forecasted spending is still $400 million below what it was five years ago.”

A list of 3,300 Canadian names have been implicated in the Paradise Papers, which means there is a legitimate and justifiable reason to suspect unlawful or questionable behaviour. Investigating this type of malfeasance is an onerous operation. Those named are, in many if not most cases, powerful individuals and entities whose activities combine complexity and legal ambiguity with an immense amount of resources.

“This is about basic fairness,” added Daviau. “The average Canadian hasn’t the inclination or the means to participate in these types of schemes. They fund the public programs on which we all depend. When illegal behaviour is suspected on such a large scale, the government needs to send a message that nobody is above the law.”

Tax professionals at the Canada Revenue Agency want to make sure every single name on this list receives careful and diligent scrutiny in a timely manner.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents approximately 55,000 public service professionals across Canada, including 12,000 federal government auditors.

Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc).

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For further information:

Johanne Fillion

613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell)
jfillion@pipsc.ca

For Immediate Release

Forget Phoenix. Let’s build a new federal pay system that works, says PIPSC President Debi Daviau

Ottawa, November 14, 2017 – The Phoenix pay system needs to be replaced with a new system that works built by the government's own IT professionals, says the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), which represents over 50,000 federal government employees.

"After nearly two years of problems with IBM's Phoenix pay system, our members have lost confidence in the promise of fixing Phoenix," said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. "Despite all efforts to fix Phoenix, the number of open cases of pay problems has grown to 330,000 as of October 2017 – with no end in sight. Enough is enough."

In its proposal, PIPSC calls for parallel processes to deal with the immediate pay crisis plaguing public servants and the long-term needs of the government.

To address immediate needs, PIPSC is calling on the government to hire additional staff to help employees impacted by the Phoenix pay system. For a faster, longer-term solution, PIPSC is calling on the government to task its own IT professionals with building a new pay system based on the latest version of PeopleSoft, the widely used human resources management system, and adapting it to the complex needs of the Government of Canada pay environment.

"The government needs to stop throwing good money after bad and start investing in a system that works," added Daviau. "As it happens, we already have the expertise and the people within the federal public service capable of designing and building it. They just need the opportunity to do so. The longer the current government delays investing in a properly designed pay system, the longer it will continue to waste tens of millions of public dollars on private contracts to patch a faulty system that was broken from the start. And the longer federal employees will be made to suffer for a bad system."

Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc).

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For further information:  

Johanne Fillion, jfillion@pipsc.ca, 613-228-6310, poste 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell.)

12 October 2017, Ottawa — Hundreds of public service workers are holding a rally at 12:30 pm today in front of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office to send a clear message to the Liberal government: Enough is enough!

The Liberal government had set itself a deadline of October 31, 2016, to resolve the bulk of pay cases and now, a year later, the Phoenix pay system is still struggling. It’s time to fix Phoenix once and for all and pay damages to the thousands of public service workers who have struggled with the consequences of erratic and insufficient pay and, in many cases, no pay.

The ill-conceived and premature launch of the Phoenix pay system has resulted in severe consequences, despite the estimated $750 million spent so far:

• nearly half of public service employees have had problems with pay, leading to a variety of stressful scenarios for workers and their families
• there have been 11 government-wide breaches of personal information due to Phoenix
• the number of new problematic pay cases continue to grow

“This has gone on long enough,” said Greg McGillis, Regional Executive Vice-President for the Public Service Alliance of Canada in the National Capital Region. “We call on the government to ensure public service workers receive payments for damages due to this unbelievable fiasco.”

“Fixing Phoenix means ending government’s appalling record of over-reliance on IBM and other outsourced services,” said Debi Daviau, President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. “Parliamentary Secretary Steven MacKinnon said last week that the government would fix this problem to everyone’s satisfaction using public employees. We plan to hold him to that promise.”

Media Contacts:

Alroy Fonseca                                                                       

Regional Political Communications Officer              

PSAC National Capital Region                                  

613-262-3658 | fonseca@psac-afpc.com

Johanne Fillion

Press Officer

PIPSC

613-883-4900 | jfillion@pipsc.ca

11 October 2017, Ottawa — Public service workers will be holding a rally in front of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office on October 12 to tell the Liberal government that: Enough is enough! Fix Phoenix now and pay damages to workers!

When: 12 October 2017 at 12:30pm

Where: Corner of Wellington and Elgin

What:

• Rally to protest Phoenix pay system.
• Photo ops:
  • crowds with placards.
• Interview ops:
  • Greg McGillis, Regional Executive Vice President for the National Capital Region, Public Service Alliance of Canada
  • Debi Daviau, President, The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
  • Sean McKenny, President, Ottawa & District Labour Council

Media Contacts:

Alroy Fonseca
Regional Political Communications Officer
PSAC National Capital Region
613-262-3658 | fonseca@psac-afpc.com

Johanne Fillion
Press Officer
PIPSC
613-883-4900 | jfillion@pipsc.ca

Ottawa, September 27, 2017 – The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), which represents approximately 15,000 federal scientists, engineers and researchers, welcomes the announcement of Dr. Mona Nemer as Chief Science Advisor.

“We hope the appointment of Dr. Nemer will ensure federal scientists at last have a true champion for more federal science funding and a strong opponent of muzzling,” said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. “We look forward to the opportunity of working closely with Dr. Nemer.”

Under the previous Harper government, federal science-based departments and agencies faced severe funding cuts and many scientists were muzzled. PIPSC fought hard against both, eventually winning contract language earlier this year that specifically recognizes the right of scientists to speak freely about science and their research.

“Reinvesting in federal science also remains a priority for our members,” added Daviau. “Dr. Nemer’s early comments that she supports more funding for science will be viewed as a hopeful sign by many federal scientists. Canada not only needs more science, it needs more scientists.”

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 55,000 professionals across Canada’s federal and provincial public sectors.

Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc).

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For further information:

Johanne Fillion
613-228-6310, ext 4953 or 613-883-4900 (cell)
jfillion@pipsc.ca